fbackup warning

[Hell.Leader]

I start backup using "fbackup" and system give a warning:
fbackup (3205):WARNING: unable to read a volume header.
Why? How can I solve this problem?
TKS!

[Sanjay_6]

Hi,

This is a normal fbackup warning when you use a backup media for the first time. There is nothing to worry. Go ahead and do the backup.

Hope this helps.

Regds

[Michael Tully]

Hi,

This message is received when you are using
a new tape. Nothing to worry about. If you are using a tape that was used before in a different format, that would give a different message, like 'tar' for example.

HTH
-Michael

[Mary Ann Lipa]

These messages simply tell you that this is the first time this tape has been written to by fbackup(1M). fbackup(1M) writes the volume header on the tape the first time it writes to it.

At HP-UX 9.0 there is a SCSI tape driver problem that occurs when attempting to write an "fbackup" volume on a new DDS ape.
"fbackup" performs a read on the tape headers before proceeding to other steps. On blank tapes this results in a 'blank cheque' condition.

The driver classifies this as a serious error and it interrupts the normal backup flow. Subsequent attempts to read from the tape result in error messages saying that the device file cannot be opened.

A workaround is to "dd" or "tar" a small file to the new tape first and then use "fbackup".

There is a patch available to
correct this problem. PHKL_3868 allows the use of blank tapes with "fbackup". Caveat, The patch could be superseded so check here on ITRC for updated patch for your O/S

d_b